Desperate for another child, mother forces daughter to inseminate herself

By Ed Payne, CNN

Updated 6:06 AM ET, Tue April 30, 2013

Story highlights

The woman devised a plan to inseminate her oldest daughter

She devised the scheme after an attempt to adopt a fourth child failed

Donor semen was purchased from a sperm bank in Denmark

Midwives reported suspicious behavior to authorities

A woman desperate to have a fourth child forced her adopted teenage daughter to artificially inseminate herself with semen purchased over the Internet so she could have the baby.

The woman devised the plan after her efforts to adopt another daughter were thwarted. In addition to the victim, the woman also has two other younger adopted daughters.

The astonishing revelations appear in documents released this week by a British court. The previously secret child welfare judgment from March 2012 was only published after the conclusion of the mother's criminal trial.

The woman was sentenced to five years in prison for child cruelty, British media reported.

Six attempts

The mother came up with the self-insemination plan when her oldest daughter was 13.

"There were six series of attempts over two years," Judge Peter Jackson said in the documents. "She became pregnant at the age of 14, but miscarried, and ultimately became pregnant ... at the age of 16."

The court documents say she provided forged documents to get the semen.

While the daughter said she didn't want to have a baby, she ultimately gave in because she loves her mother.

"My mum is a very determined person and she does her best not to let anything get in her way if she wants it," the daughter said, according to the court.

Scheme unravels

The story they agreed on was this: The daughter would say she had met and had sex with an Australian boy, who was briefly visiting the United Kingdom.

Despite all the planning, the mother's scheme began to unravel at the hospital after the birth of the baby.

Midwives said she was aggressive in trying to make sure the baby didn't bond with her daughter.

"We don't want any of that attachment thing," the mother said, according to the midwives after breastfeeding was suggested. "Is there much point to that, I will be the one giving him the bottle."

While hospital notes said the plan was for the daughter to relinquish the baby to her mother, the midwives became suspicious that something was going on as she became increasingly "pushy and insensitive."

They also heard the woman apologize to her daughter for putting her through so much.

They finally reported the mother's behavior after she tried to remove the child from the baby ward.

It was the concerns raised by the midwives that led to the investigation.

"Their willingness to stand up for them (the daughter that had the baby and two other siblings) changed everything," the judge said.